Sunday, November 12, 2017

This Week in Wrenball: Let's Get This Over With

Not walking through that door
William & Mary's men's basketball team won 77 games over the past four seasons, the most by any Tribe team over a similar span in 65 years. In the previous 10 seasons, W&M made the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) tournament final four times after never having reached the precipice of the NCAA Tournament before. W&M beat Maryland, Wake Forest, and N.C. State on the road in recent years. Two different Tribe players signed contracts with the Boston Celtics in the past two years.

We're gonna need those memories to keep us warm this season. The Golden Age, as it were, is over.

Omar Prewitt and Daniel Dixon graduated, taking with them 34.9 points per game. Jack Whitman transferred to Kansas, and then left, oddly. In any case, he was W&M's third-leading scorer and second-leading rebounder last season. Greg Malinowksi transferred to Georgetown - he made 52 threes on 40.0% shooting and was probably the team's best perimeter defender. Those four represented 64.5% of the Tribe's scoring and 54.6% of the squad's rebounding in 2016-17, while accounting for 60.1% of the team's three pointers.

The cupboard, she is looking bare. With only 10 scholarship players, and only one returning starter, the Tribe is both inexperienced and lacking in depth.

David Cohn is that only returning starter, and while he's poised to become the all-time assist leader in program history, he's limited offensively. Sophomore Nathan Knight showed a ton of promise in his rookie season, and offers W&M the kind of skilled, athletic big man we haven't seen since Tim Rusthoven, but he's prone to foul trouble, and the Tribe has exactly zero post players with even a minute of collegiate experience behind him. Connor Burchfield is a great shooter, if someone can get him a shot. He and Paul Rowley are nice complementary players. The problem this year is that both of them will have to start.

Boston College transfer Matt Milon showed promise in the Tribe's pre-season tour to Jamaica, as did freshmen Luke Loewe and Jihar Williams.

W&M opened its season Friday on the road against a High Point team that was a middling Big South outfit last year. It wasn't pretty. The Wrens made just five of 22 three-pointers, had just four assists on 20 total made field goals (all four by Cohn - nobody else dropped a single dime), were outrebounded by 11, and committed 15 turnovers to the Panthers' nine. High Point built a 12-point halftime lead before burying the overmatched Tribe in the second half on the way to a 100-64 win.

We've begun a season where a number of CAA teams look to take big steps forward, and the green and gold have pretty clearly taken several in the opposite direction. In Tony We Trust, and all that, but if this team is to win even 10 games, it'll take one of his great coaching jobs.

It's not all bleak, if you're willing to expand your parameters. The Tribe's had a strong recruiting year, securing commitments from four highly-regarded prospects, at least by W&M standards. And speaking of W&M standards, three of them are named Thornton, Quinn, and Chase. Those are first names. Those guys can't get here soon enough.

If you came here seeking standard-issue Wrenball optimism, you'll need to give us a few weeks. Or, if we beat Hampton on Wednesday, a few days. Our love for the Wrens remains unconditional, but it might be a tough love this season.

20 comments:

zman said...

I just replaced a headlight bulb in my station wagon and topped off the fluids in all three cars. I wish there was a turnover chain type of thing for doing chores around the house, like a car maintenance chain and a leaf raking chain.

TR said...

There should be a chain for dealing w/ kid soccer tourneys in November. Three outdoor games in 35-40 degree weather.

Our third team is against a Staten Island club w/ all Russian kids. Badalovs and Reuvens and Nikaleovs. Basically a lot of Vs. And lots of dads that look like they know how to kill a man and dispose of a body.

zman said...

Jugs Carlisimov?

Mark said...

I don’t think anyone in the G:TB family makes me lol at his comments as often as TR. almost makes me not want to ever meet him because it might ruin it. Who am I kidding? I can’t wait to meet that swarthy motherfucker.

Marls said...

Tribe men’s soccer wins the CAA.

Marls said...

Jets/Bucs is quite a game. Giants/Niners can only hope to live up to the futility.

Marls said...

Bills looking solid too.

Flight to Hartford delayed 2 hours. I’ve watched more NFL today than I have all season. It sucks. Can we just get rid of the NFL and spread out CFB over the whole weekend?

Mark said...

I keep the Redzone Channel on most of the day on Sundays. It’s basically background noise while I do other things. The NFL isn’t a very good product these days.

Mark said...

Unless you’re a Jags fan. That was fun and unexpected.

Mark said...

Marquise Lee just got a taunting penalty over an unnecessary roughness penalty call that ended up being rescinded. Mind numbingly stupid. Then Bortles tops him with his second awful interception in as many drives.

Marls said...

Viva Los Jags!!

Marls said...

Blake Bortles...Captain Comback.

Marls said...

Or comeback

Marls said...

Hanging at the Hartford Wolfpack AHL hockey game. I’m stunned this town could not keep a pro franchise.

rob said...

in additon to a healthy pour of pappy, i tried whistlepig rye last night. holy shit is that a terrific whiskey. incredibly smooth for a rye, with all kinds of vanilla and cinnamon flavors. and its distilled in addison county, vermont, birthplace of your friendly neighborhood tiny dictator.

zman said...

The Rams scored 21 points in 9 minutes? And 14 of them in 19 seconds.

Danimal said...

The Jags with the ugliest and most undeserved win in the history of athletics. For the first time in years we stayed ‘til the very end due mostly to my son who I didn’t want to hear bitch about not seeing the end of the game. Glad we did.
The pool cabana is fun to do once assuming someone else is flipping the bill, otherwise meh.

TR said...

Whistlepig is a great name for a rye. I’ll need to seem some out when I do my annual VT ski w/e in January.

zman said...

What does dilly dilly mean and why is it supposed to be funny?

rootsminer said...

I was at a hotel in High Point Friday night. I could have witnessed the beat down in person. I was there to watch my kids' soccer team get beat down instead. Season is mercifully over, and I'm left contemplating how much to complain about a coach who awarded more playing time to kids whose parents grovelled for it. That seems like a bad plan to me, even worse now that one of the grovelling dads was ready to throw fists with another parent in the parking lot on Saturday.

Parents are the worst thing about youth sports!